An Elephant for Sale · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture · Center for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: An Elephant for Sale
Subject: Men, White; Auctions; Painting; Auctions in literature; Elephants; Fiction; Elephants in literature; Manners and customs; fictional works; Fictitious characters
Period: 1800-1850;
Geographic: England; Europe
Description: At the auction of the Sedley estate, Mr. Blowman holds up a portrait of Joseph Sedley riding an elephant to show the buyers. William Dobbin is seated directly in front of the painting, looking up with a startled expression at the bearded man looming over him. Mr. Hammerdown is peering down at the two men from the auction block, holding his mallet up. Among the figures in the background, on the right side of the picture, are Rawdon and Rebecca Crawley, who purchase the painting. Below the illustration is printed in cursive its title, An Elephant for Sale.
Image Creator: William Makepeace Thackeray (Engraver)
Type: StillImage; Steel engravings
Identifier: mta:23057
Language: eng
Source Name: Vanity Fair. A Novel Without A Hero. In Two Volumes. Vol. I.
Parent Collection: Vanity Fair
Image: mta_23057_OBJ.jpg